


Into the Jungle (Senior Year)

by Lost_at_Sea



Category: Mean Girls (2004), Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: Blink and you'll miss it Karen/Gretchen, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 04:36:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14762711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_at_Sea/pseuds/Lost_at_Sea
Summary: Their senior year of high school is - in a word - wild. 15,000 words of slow-burn, healing, jealousy, Halloween and Christmas adventures and the entire gang being fed up with the gay drama with key moments all happening at a dorky old tire swing in Gretchen’s backyard and a mysterious painting at the center of it all.





	1. Part 1

Their senior year of high school is - in a word - wild. Six weeks into summer vacation and Regina’s out of the spinal-halo and starting to move normally again and that’s really when everything starts to go… well, starts to go crazy. 

Regina has mellowed out considerably. Everyone supposes that it literally took Regina dying for her to realize that while she shouldn’t apologize for her power and her accomplishments, some of the things she did along the way weren’t ok either. It’s the last weekend of June when Regina shows up at Janis’ front door. 

Regina hasn’t been this nervous in… probably her whole life. She got out of her spinal-halo two days before and this is the first thing she’s done since; it just seemed like it couldn’t wait any longer. She’d thought about doing it while she still had her spinal-halo on, but she didn’t deserve a possibly kinder reaction due to pity. She was ready to own up to her vast mistakes, and she wanted to do it when it counted when it meant more. So, her mom drops her off, wishes her luck, and Regina slowly and carefully marches up the steps to Janis’ front door and rings the bell. 

Janis’ dad opens the door and Regina feels her knees go weak. It’s been a long time since she’s seen Mr. Sarkisian but she knows that both of Janis’ parents know about everything that happened and that they - understandably - hate her guts. 

Janis’ dad is an architect, which makes sense. He’s kind of a tight-laced guy but just creative enough to truly vibe with his daughter - as much as a dad can with his 18-year-old. Janis’ mom is a lawyer of some sort, or maybe a legal-aid if Regina remembers correctly, but she’s also sort-of a hippie and overall the complete opposite of Regina’s father - also a lawyer. 

When Mr. Sarkisian opens the door he stares at her for a minute before stepping onto the landing and closing the door behind him, leaving the two of them alone on the top step. If Regina could back up and go down a step she would, but there’s no way her newly freed body is going to succeed at that so instead, she tries her best to not waver. 

“Regina…” Mr. Sarkisian says, face completely unreadable. “I have to say, I was hoping you’d have stopped by a long time ago.” His face is hard and Regina opens her mouth but her throat is tight and she doesn’t think she’ll be able to say anything. “I’m glad you’re here now, but,” he says, stepping closer and clenching his jaw; voice lowering to a deep whisper, “if you’re here to hurt her again you better turn around now.”

Regina swallows. Mr. Sarkisian had always made her nervous until she started learning how to pretend no one made her nervous, but she’s vulnerable - physically and emotionally - and she’s not the same person she was three months ago (she couldn’t be) so instead of giving up or deflecting or saying something rude she owns her vulnerability. 

When she speaks she actively lets her feelings bleed into her words and while she steadies herself and lifts her chin, she does it shaking at the knees. She decides that the best answer to his unspoken question is:

“Is Janis in? I’d like to speak with her.”

Mr. Sarkisian looks at her for a long time. Regina thinks he must be looking for something that would make him trust her. Apparently, he finds something good enough because he reaches behind him to open the door and calls through it into the house; “Frankie, could you go get Janis and tell her that Regina’s at the door for her?”

•••

Janis is in the garage/shed where she paints. She’s got music blasting and she’s sketching out a new painting. She’s not sure what it’s going to be yet, just letting her mind go blank and drawing. So far she’s got the very rough outlines of some circles and what she thinks is becoming an abstract face. When her mom comes in she thinks nothing of it until she sees the expression on her face. 

She immediately turns off her music and puts down her charcoal to face her mom. 

“What’s wrong? Did Lionel get hit by a car again?” She grins a little, but it’s shaky, that cat will never die.

Her mom chuckles wetly, “No, that dumb cat is just fine.” She takes a deep breath, “Honey, there’s someone at the door for you.”

Janis doesn’t move, she knows that can’t be the whole story. For some reason, she feels ice race through her veins. 

“It’s Regina, honey.” Her mom continues. “And if you want her to go away I will be more than happy to chase her off our front doorstep… but if you want to talk to her, then I understand and Dad and I will be right inside if anything gets… bad.” She trails off. Janis just whispers “fuck”.

•••

Regina feels like she’s been standing on the front porch forever at this point. After five minutes Mr. Sarkisian starts asking her about all the normal things that parents ask kids who are going into senior year. College, SATs, Majors… all that stuff. But he seems incredibly on edge, very intense, and Regina hasn’t not easily impressed someone in close to six years so she’s on even less sure footing as she tells him about the college visits she’s planning on taking this year and blushes as she mentions that she might go into fashion or maybe accounting. He at least seems surprised by that. 

Finally, after the most awkward conversation of Regina’s life, the door opens again and Janis steps on to the front step. She gives her dad a long look and, although he doesn’t look like he wants to, he goes to leave. Before he closes the door though, he stares straight into Regina’s eyes and she understands 100% what he’s telling her. ‘Don’t disappoint me again… Don’t disappoint her again.’ Regina doesn’t think she’s made a more sincere promise in a long time when she looks back in his eyes. 

•••

Two hours later, Janis washes her face from all the tears - between talking to Regina and then recounting it to her parents she went through a lot of emotions in the last few hours - then she texts both Damian and Cady and asks them to come over as soon as they can. 

It’s barely a half hour later when Cady arrives, Damian a few minutes after her, leaving his tap shoes at the door. They both are pointed by Mrs. Sarkisian to the shed where they find Janis deeply enveloped in the same canvas as before, the sketch becoming clearer and clearer, but still unrecognizable. 

Janis sits them down and, though vaguely awkward and pretty stilted, pacing and rambling a little and overwhelmed and flabbergasted and-  
She completely recounts her and Regina’s conversation. How Regina was honest and upfront about her regret of treating Janis back then, and the fact that it took her so long to realize that there was no excuse, and how she understood that saying this now probably made no difference and she didn’t deserve forgiveness but that she wanted Janis to know that she truly was sorry. 

She tells them that Regina had leant against the pillar on her front step and, tears in her eyes, told Janis that her biggest mistake wasn’t being a dumb 13-year-old who didn’t realize the ramifications of her actions; it was being an asshole for the last five years for never working to change what happened. Maybe 13-year-old Regina hadn’t realized how much she would ruin Janis’ life, but she figured it out pretty quickly, and she neglected to do anything, and that’s the big regret. Janis tells them that Regina said she didn’t want to be that asshole anymore and that she wanted to fix her mistakes. Janis chokes up a little and looks legitimately furious as she looks directly at Damian and says “I believe her… I don’t know why and I know I shouldn’t but… I believe her.” She almost upends the nearest easel, but it’s got that new painting on it, so she doesn’t. 

When she tells the two of them the kicker - that Regina had had feelings for her in eighth grade, panicked when people started harassing Janis for being gay and went along with it out of fear, and then rationalized her actions - she thinks Damian might actually faint, and Cady’s jaw might be permanently stuck on the floor. But then Janis hits the grand slam when she tells them that Regina has decided she’s tired of caring what people think about her and that she’s ready to own her sexuality and that she doesn’t care who knows. 

There’s silence for about three minutes until they both explode. They both don’t believe her until Janis tells them that in Regina’s mind that’s the best way to make up for what she did in a way. Regina might have gotten hit by a bus and lost her status as untouchable, but she’s still terrifying and people still listen to what she says. Janis tells them that Regina hopes that her being public with her sexuality will allow Janis and all the rest of the kids who had to live in fear and hardship because of the actions of 13-year-old Regina to be able to live without that fear now. They still look shocked and Damian says “You sure an alien didn’t show up at your door?” so Janis repeats exactly what Regina said to her; “I refuse to die unhappy and pretending to be straight more than once.” That they believe. 

•••  
Regina for her part comes home and knocks on her parents’ bedroom door. Her mom opens it and she walks in. Her mom starts fretting immediately, seeing Regina’s tears. And for once, Regina lets her. She tells her mom everything and her mom is really super nice about it which makes Regina hate herself just that little bit more. 

She tells her mom about her and Janis’ talk and how when she was done apologizing and when both of them were in tears how Janis had apologized for what she did to Cady and for what she did to Regina. They’d agreed, chuckling, that Regina probably deserved it, though that didn’t make it ok. And Regina had confessed, tear-strained, that she wasn’t upset that she’d been hit by the bus, though she wishes she could have figured her shit out with a little less physical pain and literal death involved. 

•••

If you asked Janis then what she thought the direct repercussions of telling Cady and Damian would have been she’d never in a million years thought that Cady would have gone to Regina and offered to be her wing woman, but when she hears about it - a week and a half later at the fourth of July party - she’s not at all surprised. That actually sounds exactly like something her best friend Caddy would do. 

Janis finds out because she shows up to the Fourth of July party and finds Damian. He hands her a drink and immediately fans himself and points at Cady and a girl talking. Janis doesn’t really recognize the girl but that doesn’t mean much, she doesn’t have many friends and she tries not to pay attention to the general populous. She will admit that the girl is gorgeous in a striking, athletic, cocky way. She’s wearing a well-fitting leather bomber jacket even though they’re outside - Gretchen’s house; her parents are loaded and it’s an enclosed backyard safe from weird neighbors’ prying eyes - and it’s probably 85 degrees. She’s also pretty obviously gay. 

“Guess what Caddy’s doing.”

“Telling that girl she shouldn’t wear leather?”

Damian snorts, “Probably, but more importantly, she’s trying to find a girlfriend for Regina.”

Janis legitimately spit takes her rum and coke. 110%. It takes Damian probably five minutes to calm down after it and it draws quite a bit of attention from the crowd when he falls on the ground laughing, but Janis just rolls her eyes and chuckles. She’s so past caring what these idiots think about her. 

When they’ve calmed down again; “I don’t think Regina needs help in the romance department.” Janis says, and she says it because Regina has arrived. She’s not flanked by Karen and Gretchen like she usually is - they’re both already here, in the corner, Karen dedicating her night to making sure Gretchen has fun at a party for goddamn once. And despite being still a little stiff and having to wear a pair of fashionable pink sneakers instead of heels, Regina absolutely struts into the party. She’s wearing light wash shorts that have half the guys at the party distracted instantly, and a pink bralette under a sheer, white, sleeveless, button up shirt, loosely tucked into the front of her jean shorts. It looks effortless and Janis can’t refrain from rolling her eyes. She looks down at her scuffed converse and chuckles. 

“You’re probably right, but I also think she’s probably going to be a little out of place with the whole gay thing…” Damian says. 

He’s wrong, they find out. By the end of the party, Cady has gotten two girls to agree to go out with Regina, but Regina’s gotten the number of five more. She’s flaunting it too just a little and Janis is ashamed to say there’s a fire burning in her veins. It’s not jealousy she spits at the voice in her head that sounds suspiciously like Damian. No; Janis is just kind of pissed that there are this many women here falling over Regina when she’s been on approximately two dates in the last four years.

That doesn’t really change the fact that she finds her blood boiling as she looks over all seven girls. They’re all very different - Regina must either not be picky, or still figuring it all out - from small and feminine, to tall and intimidating, butch, sporty, quirky; Regina’s pulled them all. But when Janis looks at a short girl with dark hair and a striped jumper over ripped black jeans and combat boots she feels something rise up in her chest. 

She’s distracted when she’s tapped on the shoulder. She turns around and is face to face with the girl that Cady was talking to earlier. She really is prettier up close, her auburn hair falling over one side of her face and reaching her collarbones. She greets Janis with a dazzling grin. She doesn’t go to North Shore, that much Janis can tell, because if she went to North Shore, Regina might actually have some competition. The girl’s smile bites and her eyes sparkle with just hidden power. She’s an HBIC type, feminine and gorgeous, but the way she swaggers… she can’t be straight. 

“Your friend tried to set me up with that girl over there,” she begins, jutting a thumb over her shoulder, “but she’s not really my type.” The girl leans closer, extending her hand, a piece of paper caught between her pointer and middle finger. “You are though.” She winks. 

Janis is a little stunned but she takes the paper anyway. Damian is fanning himself furiously and squealing from twenty feet away and the girl ducks her head, grins, and turns on her heel to leave. Waving over her shoulder when she reaches the gate. Janis is a little spell-bound.

Regina, of course, sees all of that from across the pool tuning out of her conversation with Gretchen and Karen. Gretchen starts sort-of freaking out that Regina isn’t paying attention and it’s Karen’s giggly “oh, no, Gretchen don’t worry, Regina’s just plotting how to ruin that pretty girl’s life…” that pulls Regina back into the conversation. 

“What’s her name?” She asks shortly, eyes narrowing. “Do we know what school she goes to and what social circle she runs in?” She’s about halfway through a plot that involves three dozen eggs and half the hockey team when she snaps out of it. It took a lot of healing for Regina to realize that actively ruining someone’s life is always way harsher punishment than they deserve. She cuts the egg countdown to one dozen. 

Cady walks up; “What are you guys talking about?”

“Regina’s plotting to ruin the girl with the leather jacket’s life.”

Cady is silent for a few moments, Regina’s eyes are still boring holes into the back of the girl’s head. “Regina… I thought we were past this.”

Regina snaps her attention back to Cady and she looks… guilty? It kind of shocks Cady. Her expression falls into sadness as she looks at the girl with the leather jacket waving at a blushing Janis. 

“You’re right, whatever. I don’t...” Regina mumbles as she stalks away. 

When Janis turns around, completely befuddled, she doesn’t miss the fact that Regina has quietly slipped out. It kind of makes her blood boil, assuming she’s picked one of her many conquests and snuck off with them. She’s not sure why. 

When she gets to Karen in her round of goodbyes, the night makes a lot more sense. Apparently, Karen and Gretchen have also been informed of Regina’s coming out and are in full support. In fact, when Janis looks at Gretchen she notices the girl has lost a lot of the tension in her shoulders and wonders what the odds could be…

Karen had used all her connections and invited every queer woman she knew or knew of to the party to assist in the finding a match for Regina. Karen calls it Mission WLW but she doesn’t say the letters, she says wuh-luh-wuh. When she says it Gretchen rolls her eyes but also looks at her fondly and Janis thinks her brain might fry if any more of this happens. 

She asks where Regina might be and Gretchen’s face hardens as she looks around. She stiffens and Karen takes over, talking absently. “She’s probably at the tire swing around the corner,” she points, “it’s her favorite spot.”

Janis nods and starts walking in that direction. She doesn’t really want to stumble upon Regina making out with some girl, but she’s pretty sure Gretchen would have stopped her before she ran into that. Not so much for Janis’ sake, but for Regina’s. She’s not quite sure why she’s so insistent on saying goodbye to Regina but she did convince herself to at least make an effort when it comes to Regina; if not for her sake for Cady’s, she tells herself. 

She passes a bunch of windows on her trek and she looks at her converse, high-waisted shorts, tights and crop top. She’s opted for a lightweight jacket, but it’s still a deep plum, bomber jacket. It’s what she calls her summer look and Damian just rolls his eyes at for the months of May through August.

As she walks past the windows she has this flash of wishing she looked different, maybe then…. She shakes the lingering feeling she’s never quite gotten rid of off quickly. She doesn’t care what Regina thinks of her and she doesn’t want to change. She wonders, as she keeps walking if maybe only one of those things is true. 

She rounds the corner and finds Regina sitting on the tire swing. The fireworks went off probably two hours ago and they’d turned all the lights off for that and never turned them back on so Regina’s sitting in the relative dark. Janis lets out a breath when she realizes the girl is alone. She makes sure to make her steps louder as she gets closer as to not startle the blonde. 

When Janis is probably fifteen paces away Regina turns around. Her face, tight initially, softens as she sees it’s Janis. 

“I just wanted to say goodbye before I left.” This is… it’s pretty awkward. They haven’t been alone since their conversation on Janis’ front step, and Janis looks anywhere but at Regina, mostly at her converse. 

Regina moves to stand and Janis halts her with a hand. “You don’t have to get up, I know you escaped here because standing was starting to bother you.” She looks at Regina now. She’s trying to be sincere, and she honestly does feel a pang when she thinks about the grimace Regina’s been trying to hide for the last hour, but she really doesn’t have time for any of Regina’s facade bullshit. 

For a split second Regina’s face hardens and she looks angry, but it immediately softens in defeat. 

“You’re right,” she chuckles humorlessly, “my back hurts like a bitch.” 

Janis leans against the tree. “So I hear you had quite the luck with the ladies tonight…” She must lean a little too hard against the tree because she feels herself slipping and has to resituate herself quickly. 

Regina rolls her eyes, “It’s different than with the guys but, I don’t know… I’m also way worse at all this now.” Janis is shocked at how open and honest and vulnerable Regina seems. Just the two of them in the relative dark, on a warm summer's night.

It’s Janis’ turn to roll her eyes. “Regina, you got seven numbers in one night. Don’t be a bitch”

“I’m not! That’s way below average.” It’s the wink that Regina adds to the end that allows Janis to laugh, but then she takes pause… it’s probably not 100% false. 

“I just mean, it actually matters now which makes it hard, and also I don’t really know what I want. I know life isn’t a fairytale but it’s not like any of those girls really seemed like anything special…” She gives Janis a meaningful look but the dark-haired girl isn’t sure what it means. Instead, she just hums at that and the number in her pocket and the girl to whom it belongs springs into her mind. 

“And besides, I saw that girl give you her number,” Regina teases, but her voice sounds oddly tight and Janis’ eyes shoot back to Regina’s; “she was the hottest girl here tonight” she flips her hair over her shoulder with one hand “besides me of course.”

Janis rolls her eyes again and chuckles defensively. “Oh yes, god forbid anyone else shows up here looking halfway decent or-.” She’s cut off when she sees Regina’s extended eyebrow and slight smirk. She’s a little ashamed that Regina seems to be more cordial and kind during this exchange than Janis can manage and she softens, though remains awkward. “Yeah, yeah sure.”

“You think she could be something special?” Regina asks. And her tone is different, more serious, a little hesitant, a little achy. And when Janis turns to look at her, Regina’s leaning forward and for the first time since she turned around, she’s in the moonlight and Janis can clearly see her face. And it’s a face that is open and vulnerable and it scares Janis. Janis hasn’t forgiven Regina yet, and Janis hasn’t come to terms with most of what’s swirling around her head, so instead of answering she pulls a cocky smirk out of her ass, pastes it on her face, and leans forward. 

“Goodnight, Regina.” She says, using the tree to sort-of roll away from Regina and walk away. She hears Regina laugh and call a “Night, loser” over her shoulder and although she refuses to look back, Janis marvels at the fact that she tonight she heard Regina George call her a loser, and it made her smile.


	2. Part 2

Regina goes on a lot of dates. She’s trying to drown the dark-haired girl out of her mind. They go back to school and while Regina definitely deals with a lot of shit for being out now, she shuts that shit down powerfully. People don’t change their minds exactly, but they do shut up. In the next three months, she sees all the girls that she got numbers from at the party and a few more. 

It’s halfway through October that she finally admits what’s wrong. She’s at a cooking class - which what - with this girl with dark brown hair who always wears the same pair of combat boots and Regina looks at her and she realizes why none of this has felt right. Sure some of the girls were funny or charming and she feels like she understands where she fits and what she wants from a relationship now. Sure some of the girls were hot and good kissers but there was no long-term potential with any of them. It’s halfway through October watching the girl with flour up to her elbows (it’s the girls own fault she didn’t tell Regina where they were going and Regina is wearing her favorite long-sleeved sweater that she refuses to roll up because… duh it’ll wrinkle) that she looks over at the girl next to her and realizes she wishes that girl was Janis Sarkisian. 

She freaks out and calls Cady as soon as she gets home. 

•••

Janis goes on quite a few dates. In the next three months, she goes out seventeen times with the girl with the leather jacket. She finds out that the girl with the leather jacket has a lot of leather jackets, and that she’s naturally just that tall. She finds out that the girl with the leather jacket likes jazz and Thai food and wants to be a writer. She finds out that the girl with the leather gets what she wants when she wants it and can get it with a bat of her eyelashes and a flip of her hair. It’s a little mesmerizing. 

Janis thinks the girl with the leather jacket is great, but she also knows that something’s missing. So does the girl with the leather jacket. She’s at her house one day, it’s nearly Halloween, and the girl with the leather jacket is looking around the shed. Her and Janis are on opposite sides of the makeshift studio facing each other when the girl with the leather jacket speaks up. 

“What are we doing?”

“What do you mean, I thought you wanted to come back after dinner?” She’s immediately awkward. She won’t admit and she’d probably deck you if you mentioned it, but she’s a little intimidated and unsure around the girl. 

“No I mean, what are we doing, Janis.”

She doesn’t say anything more, just picks up the painting closest to her and turns it around so Janis can see it. 

It’s the farthest Janis has stood from the painting and looked at it, and with the setting sun streaming in and lighting up the canvas with the abstract face that Janis has been working on slowly for months, it’s a face, but it isn’t the girl with the leather jacket’s face. She’s not sure whose it is, but she knows she’s been obsessed with that canvas for months. 

The girl with the leather jacket leaves and Janis sits on the cold ground and calls Damian. 

•••

Cady’s freaking the fuck out, she’s not going to lie. Her and Karen and Gretchen are sitting on Regina’s floor and Regina is pacing back and forth, crying. If you’d asked Cady last year if this would have ever happened she’d have sent you to the doctor, but now Regina’s crying and her and Karen and Gretchen are waiting patiently for Regina to tell them what’s wrong. 

An hour later Cady’s freaking the fuck out even more. Regina swore her to secrecy and Cady’s loathe to admit she’d never tell Janis anyway because she’s not sure it wouldn’t split the dark-haired girl down the middle. Karen’s cheery and hopeful, and Gretchen is quiet and supportive but when Regina looks Cady dead in the eye and asks her what she should do Cady takes a deep breath and answers truthfully. 

“Janis and you have come a long way, Regina… but I don’t think she’s fully forgiven you yet, and I don’t think anything is going to happen between you until she does.”

Regina looks sad, but her eyes also bleed understanding, like she expected as much. That’s when Karen decides she has a great plan. Cady’s shocked when three hours later she agrees. 

•••

It’s three days before Halloween (a Friday this year thank the gods) and Regina struts down the hall to Janis’ locker. Janis is standing with Cady - Damian’s at his student leader meeting but he should be there any minute. Regina still doesn’t wear heels, but she also still kills it every day at school. Cady had asked her once, why she didn’t let herself relax a little and wear something more comfortable and Regina had blushed and told Cady that she actually really liked dressing the way she did and while she’d thrown all the dumb rules out the window and fully embraced - if not with rolling eyes - all of Karen’s vests now, that she still really liked wearing pink and tight jeans and crop tops and leather jackets. Cady can’t blame her, Regina pulls it off insanely well. 

Regina’s probably twenty paces from Janis and Cady when this dude, Michael or Mason or something like that, comes up to them. The dude is in their grade, and he’s tall and lean and clean cut with big glasses and lots of freckles. He’s not a nerd but he’s not popular either, a kid with lots of money but he’s decidedly not athletic. He spends his time playing guitar at various coffee shops and pretending he’s the Next Big Thing. Regina hates him. 

He walks up to Janis and Cady and immediately ignores the latter. He puts his hands in his front pockets and tries to smile coyly at Janis. Janis is just stunned, looking quickly between Cady and Michael/Mason. Regina feels her blood boil as the boy leans closer to Janis and smirks fully. She’s too far away to hear what he’s saying but she gets the gist. 

Regina may not be the HBIC, queen bee she used to be but she still sends fear rocketing down the spines of stronger and better guys than Michael/Mason so she starts stalking up to them, clearing her throat when she’s probably five paces away. All three heads swivel towards her. Michael/Mason has the audacity to smirk at her. 

“Maggot, how are you?”

“Umm, it’s Michael…”

“That’s what I said.” Regina stares at him with the ferocity of a thousand suns and dares him to challenge her. She hears Janis snicker from next to her. 

“I was just asking Janis how her last art show went.” He says. 

At that Regina’s head swivels towards the girl in question, eyebrows drawn together. She’d had no idea that the girl had an art show, no one had told her. Janis seems uncomfortable between Regina and her questioning eyes and Michael and his big grin. 

“Yeah… it it was fine.”

“She won three awards.” Cady pipes up from next to her, bumping Janis’ shoulder. 

“That’s amazing, Janis,” Regina says, honestly and Janis just stares at her, shocked by the warmth in her voice. 

“Yeah, but also not a surprise.” Adds a chuckling Michael and Regina feels her blood boil. 

It’s lucky for him that to make him feel the deepest fear she decides to swivel her head towards him slowly and she has to make eye contact with Cady on her way there. Cady’s eyes are pleading and her eyebrows are raised and Regina reads her loud and clear but it takes all of her willpower to not incinerate that boy on the spot. 

“Of course it isn’t, Michael; we all know how amazing Janis’ art is.”

Michael seems to miss her tone because he just grins at her, and then at Janis. Regina sees out of the corner of her eye that Janis looks uncomfortable looking him in the eye. 

“Now Michael, if you don’t mind, there was something I’d wanted to discuss with these two. I’m sure you won’t mind if I steal them away.”

Michael looks put out but gestures that it’s fine. All four of them stand there; Regina’s eyes burning brighter with each moment that passes until Michael realizes that he’s the one that’s supposed to leave. He stumbles off waving at Janis over his shoulder. 

“Well now that that’s over…” Regina says swiveling back around towards Janis. As soon as she looks at her without the distraction, however, her mouth goes dry. 

Janis must be having a stroke because Regina seems to be nervous. She notices Regina looking over Janis’ shoulder and her eyebrows draw together. Janis looks over her shoulder and notices Gretchen and Karen halfway down the hallway, pretending to be inspecting the ceiling as they notice Janis staring at them. 

Four months ago, Janis would have started panicking, sure something terrible was about to happen. Now, she chuckles and turns back around, staring at Regina expectantly. This will probably be good. 

“Yes, Regina.” She sort-of sing-songs. 

Regina clears her throat, “we’re throwing a grade-wide Halloween party at Gretchen’s house this weekend. Everyone’s invited, even the losers,” she lightens her teasing tone with a wink, “but I um…” she loses momentum, “I wanted to personally ask you because I’d really like you to come.”

Janis is in shock. Cady is stock still. Regina is shaking. Who’d have thought? It takes probably thirty seconds for Janis to respond. “Yeah of course, as long as I can bring Damian.”

Regina grins, “Well duh, I was going to invite him later during math, but if you want to just give him this.” She pulls out two glossy invitations from her bag, and Janis rolls her eyes, fighting a smile. 

“Of course you made up invitations.”

Regina just grins, “of course I did.” Then she pales a little but fights through. Janis looks on curiously as Regina fights for her smile to remain calm - and fails. “Also, I didn’t know if you needed a plus-one… for your girlfriend. Or like… Michael, I guess.”

Janis sputters. “No, no I don’t, I umm.. I don’t have a-one.”

Cady whips around and stares at her. “What about Lark?”

“We were never really together, but we’re not… um… we’re not seeing each other anymore anyway.”

Regina raises an eyebrow and fights for her grin to stay off her face. 

“Well, I’m glad you’ll be there, Janis. Tell Damian I said hi.” She winks and then saunters off. 

Cady turns to look at Janis, to ask her a question about what she’ll be wearing to the Halloween party, but when she sees the dazed look on Janis’ face she stops. Cady thinks, by the end of senior year, she won’t be surprised by anything anymore. 

“It’s not a trick, right? She’s not going to like, pull a Carrie on me, right?” Janis asks, a little panicked. 

“What do you think, Janis?”

“I think not, but I don’t know if I believe that.” She seems earnest and Cady takes a deep breath. 

“Well, there’s only one way to find out for sure…”

•••

Regina’s freaking the fuck out. It makes Gretchen roll her eyes good-naturedly and Karen squeal excitedly. It’s Friday night and the costume that Regina picked out is suddenly not to her liking. 

Karen comes up behind her in the mirror and quietly but firmly speaks to Regina. 

“Regina, remember, you have to wear what you want to wear tonight and hope she likes it. You shouldn’t wear what you think she wants you to wear tonight and hope you like it… duh.”

Regina’s been noticing that Karen isn’t as dumb as she seems lately. Regina’s been noticing what Gretchen wants and needs a little more, realizes if she gives the girl the attention she asks for she’s not just going to run away, fulfilled. 

She turns around and looks at Gretchen. “What do you think?”

Gretchen looks surprised but happy. “You look great, Regina.”

Regina looks in the mirror again and the two girls go to join her. She looks at Karen in her multi-colored striped crop top with a white tutu (“I’m a fucking rainbow!”) and Gretchen in her little black dress with the long fabric between sleeve and bodice (“It’s like… a sexy bat!”) and she looks at the white shorts with a pink and gold ribbon sewn to the waistband at each side and secured to the white fishnets she’s wearing at the ankle, white crop-top, white bomber jacket with the epaulettes, gold boots, gold sash and gold crown placed just slightly but also purposely off-kilter (“Duh guys Princess Charming”) and she grins when she says “We look fetch!”

It’s worth it to see the smile on Gretchen’s face. And in that moment Regina almost cries, because she realizes that maybe the whole school doesn’t worship her and she doesn’t get everything she wants and fewer people pay attention to her, but for the first time in a long time she feels that warm feeling swell up in her chest and she’s never been happier that she got hit by that bus.

•••

Janis decides she’s not wearing a costume to the party and Damian and Cady freak out. They march into her studio (where she’s still working on that same canvas, except she’s just staring at it now). Cady and Aaron are going as Jack Skeleton and Sally from A Nightmare Before Christmas, and Damian’s going with a guy from camp (he was pretty shocked Regina let him bring a plus one but she rolled her eyes and told him to bring whoever he wanted) as gay pirates. Janis and Cady had both been confused as to what made their costumes explicitly gay until they’d seen Damian and his date, Rock (yes that was his name) in sparkly and skimpy attire respectively. 

It’s two hours before they’re supposed to go and Janis literally doesn’t have a costume. They’re getting ready at Janis’s thank god because he guarantees they can find her something by starting here and swinging by his costume trunk on the way to Gretchen’s. 

They throw out a lot of options, witch, alien, astronaut, cyborg, vampire. Cady and Damian are shocked when she says no to all of them. Aaron suggests knight in shining armor from the other side of the room and before anyone can do much more than scoff at his suggestion he lazily says “Joan of Arc was super cool, guys”. Janis’ eyes light up.

When they knock on Gretchen’s door two hours later a little before 10 pm, some random hockey player opens it and, grinning (Ryan’s a good dude and friends with Aaron) he calls over his shoulder for Karen, Gretchen, and Regina, who are in the adjoining room. 

“Looking good you guys,” he winks before walking off. 

Gretchen and Karen come up and say hello, standing either side of the open door and exchanging pleasantries. Cady and Aaron file in and greet Regina, standing slightly behind and between the other two. Then Damian walks in, Rock introducing himself to Karen, who seems to take an extreme liking to him. That leaves Janis shuffling a little awkwardly in the doorway. When Karen and Gretchen see her both their jaws drop and they stop talking. But it’s nothing compared to Regina’s face when she looks at Janis. Or Janis’ face when she sees Regina. 

Damian looks like he’s three seconds from squealing so Aaron and Rock drag him away, Gretchen grabs Karen’s arm and darts in the other direction. Karen whisper-yells a “hot-damn girl” over her shoulder. It leaves Cady, standing just behind the door, and Janis and Regina still just staring at each other. 

Janis is wearing a silver low-cut shirt (Cady’s) and ripped grey jeans shorts (her own). She’s got on her black combat boots and a pair of her signature black fishnets. They’d taken apart the chainmail that Rock had run out to get from his house (he’d been a knight two years ago) and between Rock, Cady and Damian’s expertise they’d managed to fit a few pieces over her shoulders and secured around her biceps, and one piece across her hips and dangling down her right leg to about mid-thigh where it’d been strapped and secured. She’s got on Rock’s gauntlets from his costume (they’re real metal and no one decides to ask) and they come up to her elbows leaving only her biceps exposed and there’s a plastic sword strapped around her, over one shoulder. She’d put Damian’s French flag pin (he’d been in Les Mis two summers before) on her shirt and Aaron had drawn two crosses to put on her shoulders. She feels like if Xena and Joan of Arc had a really rockin’ baby.

When Janis had looked at herself in Damian’s closet (three full length mirrors for viewing an outfit at every angle) she’d felt hot, kind of got emotional as she’d thanked everyone for their help. But with Regina George staring at her like she is, she feels on top of the world. It shows through the humongous smirk on her face.

But then she can’t stop staring at Regina’s outfit of choice and her insanely long legs and…

Janis is the one who finds her voice first. She clears her throat; “You always seemed like you’d look great as royalty.”

Regina shakes her head, looks a little waterlogged, chuckles; “Yeah, well, I’ve always thought Prince Charming would have been more realistic as a girl, what with all the saving the day and the respect for women.” 

Janis’ face lights up even more at that. “That’s sick.”

Regina smiles broadly. “Please tell me you’re Joan of Arc and not just a regular knight.”

Janis’ jaw drops. “What? Who told you...”

Regina rolls her eyes, “I know you, Jan.”

They both kind of startle at that and Cady decides it’s time for her to make her presence known.

“Yo! Janis! The hot tub looks like a cauldron!”

She grabs Janis’ hand and while she drags her out she hears Regina chuckle slightly and Cady steels herself for a wild night. 

•••

An hour later Regina sees Janis again. She’s outside and this girl dressed as a lumberjack (Regina rolls her eyes at that) is chatting her up. Janis doesn’t look super interested, but she’s also not stopping the conversation and Regina feels longing smart at her heart. Janis catches her eye from across the pool and grins at her and the lion roaring in Regina’s chest settles down to a purr. 

But then the lumberjack girl says something that makes Janis snort-laugh and Regina’s blood boils. The girl’s pretty, she supposes, long blonde hair and even longer legs, but she’s also dressed as a fucking lumberjack. She’s wearing boots and skin-tight jeans and a fucking flannel and a beanie. That’s it. She’s got a plastic ax slung through a belt-loop but Regina can’t believe Janis is even giving her the time of day, let alone fucking flirting with her. 

Cady and Aaron wander over, both a little cautious, as Regina’s been staring at Janis and the lumberjack with a giant snarl on her face for the last ten minutes. 

“What ya doing, Regina?” Cady asks, pretty hesitantly. 

“Do you think that girl is hot?”

“Yes,” Aaron says immediately. Cady smacks him. “What I believe in honesty.” Cady grins at that. 

They both realize, a little late, that Regina has stalked off. They immediately grab Gretchen and Karen and try to find her before she sets up some ridiculous plan to throw the girl into the sun or something. 

Thirty minutes later Janis wanders in, trying to find Regina. She wants to talk. She finds the girl on the dance floor. She watches, chuckling, as her and Gretchen and Karen dance, Regina’s crown getting more and more crooked. Regina’s movements are still a little stiff, but it’s only noticeable to a practiced eye. 

Regina decides to take a break and grab some water. In her absence, Karen and Gretchen pull Janis out onto the dance floor. Janis is still surprised with how well she meshes with Karen, and how much this mellow-version of Gretchen seems to really want to get along with her. Not in that needy way that she used to look up to Regina, but in an honest and open way. So she lets herself be pulled on the dance floor and after a few minutes remembers her mantra and starts dancing like she doesn’t care who’s watching. 

Regina re-enters the room but decides she’ll keep her break going a while longer. She leans up against a wall and tries to rest her back and neck as much as she can without leaving the situation. Aaron and Cady and Kevin come up to her and while Cady and Kevin talk about some random math… thing, Regina, and Aaron start talking. They're not exactly friends and it’s not exactly not awkward but Aaron ends up being a good conversationalist and while Regina can’t help herself from rolling her eyes when he gushes about his little sister’s science fair project, it’s in a much more endearing way than it used to be. 

Ten minutes later when she looks at the dance floor again there’s a handsome and confident brunette obviously dressed up as Clark Kent with the white button up shirt slightly open to reveal a Superman t-shirt, the skin tight blue jeans and the suspenders and the glasses (which look real), inching his way closer and closer to Janis. Regina’s on red alert and Damian and Rock - who have just joined them - try to talk to her but stop and look in the direction of the dance floor. Damian tenses up. 

“Who is that?” 

“Trent. He’s on the basketball team.”

 

“Yeah, he’s ripped as fuck.”

“Not helpful, Rock.”

 

“Sorry.”

They watch as Karen and Gretchen look him up and down and sort-of make room for him as he sidles up behind Janis. They watch as Janis freezes, looks over her shoulder and tenses up even more. They watch as Trent smirks and says something, leaning closer to Janis. They see as Janis takes a step away, her face screwing up. The moment Trent’s hands reach towards Janis’ hips, Regina is pushing herself off the wall and halfway there before Damian and Rock have even started forward. Janis slaps his hands away but Trent just laughs. They can see Janis’ blood boiling from across the room. 

Gretchen and Karen have been separated from Janis and Trent now and Gretchen looks panicked. Regina might not have all the power she used to but when she puts on *that face* and starts walking through the sparse crowd, it’s like the red sea parting before her. 

She makes it to Trent (Rock and Damian flanking her) and her saccharine sweet tone is laced with poison. 

“Hi, Trent. Having a good evening?” He opens his mouth to respond and her plastered on smile shifts into a snarl; “Unless you back the fuck up it won’t be for much longer.”

Janis breaks free of his grip on her hips but he’s not paying attention to her anymore. Janis, who had been ten seconds from punching that dude in the face isn’t sorry to say that watching Regina point her most deadly look at this hulking dude isn’t 1. Great entertainment and 2. Kinda hot. 

“Regina, you don’t scare me. You never did. But now you come hobbling over here trying to tell me what to do. That bus might not have snapped you in half but I won’t hesitate to.”

Regina feels Rock shift behind her as Trent gets all up in her face. She refuses to move, in fact, she uses it to her advantage. She leans just the slightest bit forward so that she can whisper in Trent’s ear. 

Janis watches as the color drains from Trent’s face, he takes a step back, looks around wildly and scampers off. It’s terrifying. 

“What the hell did you say to him?” Rock says, a little awestruck.

“I think it’s probably better that you don’t know.”

Regina thinks she’s got this in the bag but when she turns around Janis is looking at her, disappointed. 

“I didn’t like threaten to kill him or castrate him or anything, Jan. No worries.” She flips her hair. She’s on top of the world. 

Janis stalks off and Regina can’t believe it. She looks at Damian for help. 

“Don’t get me wrong, honey, Janis is thankful for what you did. But she’s still working on the whole ‘forgiving you’ moment, and if she thinks you’re about to ruin that guy's life…”

Regina runs after her. When she can’t find her she goes out to her spot at the tire swing. 

Maybe it’s her lucky night because leaning against the tree is the girl she’d been looking for. 

There are fake cobwebs all over the tire swing rope, and fake bats hanging from the trees and candy-corn string lights hanging from the branches. Regina walks forward and sits on the tire swing. 

“I told him that if he didn’t back off I’d tell the coach about his little steroid thing he’s got going on the side.”

 

Janis’ mouth drops open.

“I get that you are worried I’m still a life-ruiner, and I’m not going to say I’ve completely changed, I’m unlearning a lot of bad shit and I’m trying to be better but it’s a process. But, Jan… don’t you think he deserved it?”

“I thought you deserved your life ruined once.”

Regina feels the words like a slash from a knife. She gulps, looks at the ground and then gathers her courage to look the girl in the face. “And you were right.”

Janis’ expression finally softens but she still isn’t looking at her. “No, I wasn’t. You deserved to learn a lesson. You didn’t deserve all that shit me and Caddy and Damian pulled. You didn’t deserve to be hit by a bus.” 

“We’ve been over this. That was not your fault.”

“Yeah…”

Regina takes a deep breath. 

“I’ve done a lot of soul-searching since… the bus and I really want you to be in my life.” Janis’ head whips towards Regin. It’s not what she was expecting. Maybe more of talking this out, maybe more of Regina claiming that ruining that Trent guy’s life was worth it; not this. 

Regina’s eyes widen just the slightest. “And I know I don’t deserve that, and I might never deserve that, but I was wondering if there was anything I could do, that would help you open your heart to us being friends again.”

Janis is silent and Regina can’t get a read on what she’s thinking. It’s a long moment before she continues; “I miss you Jan.”

It kind of breaks Janis’ heart, but it also pings every red flag she has. Self-preservation had been her schtick for a long time, it’s hard to unlearn. And as soon as she thinks that something snows and she looks really hard at Regina and understands her on a deeper level than she has in a long time. 

“I haven’t quite forgiven you yet, Regina, but I think I’m willing to do the friend thing.”

A part of Regina is screaming to just go for what she wants, but the rational part of her (that Regina often has trouble listening to) calmly reminds her that even if Janis liked her, she wouldn’t be ready to go for it because she hasn’t truly forgiven Regina enough for that. 

Regina and Janis spend the rest of the night together and… it’s awkward, but it’s nice. It also takes the combined forces of Gretchen, Damian, and Cady (with Rock and Aaron ready if need be) to keep Karen from telling them they should be together, as she’s expressed many times she wants to do. 

Janis gets just the far side of tipsy and Regina’s a little sloshed and Janis’ walls are down farther than they’ve been in a while and when she looks at Regina she sees more of her friend from middle school than she has in years. It gives her hope. It also terrifies her. 

Janis, Cady, and Aaron spend the night along with all the other kids who are too drunk to drive (Rock and Damian go back to Rock’s place) and while Cady and Aaron cuddle up on the couch, Regina, Gretchen, and Karen drag Janis up to Gretchen’s room and the four of them pass out in Gretchen’s king-sized bed and if you’d told Janis last Halloween that’s how her senior year Halloween night would end she’d call you stupid as all hell. 

But they’re all giggling as they take off the pieces of their costume that make it impossible to sleep and Karen’s stuck in her tutu and Gretchen helps her get it untangled, and Janis takes off her shoes and carefully lays her pieces of chainmail in a pile on the ground and she turns back around and Regina’s shed her bomber jacket and sash and shoes and but her crown is stuck in her hair and she looks at Janis helplessly. Karen has already dragged Gretchen into bed and has grabbed the other girl’s hands and forced Gretchen to big-spoon her. Gretchen looks a little hapless but not upset and Janis and Regina roll their eyes and chuckle. Janis swallows a little and turns back around and walks up to Regina. 

She gets pretty close up in her space and carefully detangles the crown from Regina’s hair, and all the while a very-tipsy Regina is smiling at her doggedly and having a hard trouble breathing for… for some reason. 

When they’re both as ready for bed as they’re gonna be a sleepy Karen mumbles Janis’ name and pats the space next to her so Janis crawls into the huge bed and laughs at herself as she lays on her back and lets Karen drape an arm over her midsection and hug her and thank her for a “spectacular night”. Regina joins her a moment later, movements a bit stiff and Janis wonders how much her back and neck must hurt as she slides into bed. She realizes it must be pretty bad when it takes Regina probably ten minutes of tossing and turning before she flops on her back and sighs. 

Janis whispers into the mostly quiet room (she’s pretty sure that’s Gretchen lightly snoring) “Can I do anything?”

By Regina’s sharp intake of breath, Janis supposes the other girl thought she was already asleep. She shakes her head no, which Janis can just barely see because the moonlight streaming in Gretchen’s bay window backlights Regina’s blonde hair. 

Janis shifts to her side, pushing back toward Karen and sits up before she whispers again. “Just get comfortable and I’ll take whatever space is left.”

Regina looks at her thankfully and ends up flipping over to lay on her stomach, head facing away from Janis. A second later she groans and flips her head the other way. A semi-contented sigh leaves Regina and Janis tries to make out what space is left in the dark. She gathers there isn’t much and while she’s confident she can push Karen into Gretchen a little more and it won’t hurt anyone, in the long run, she also surmises there’s only one way they’re all gonna fit at this point. 

“Alright, dude I got this.” Janis grins, cockily, trying to drown out her pounding heart. “Just lift up your left side real quick.”

Regina groans good-naturedly and lifts her left side. Moving quickly as to not strain the girl, Janis flips around and lays on her back, pushing Karen a little, thankful when the other girl doesn’t wake up. When she’s done she looks up at Regina and figures their shoulders are going to overlap a bit more than she expected. Regina looks at her, confusion shining in her eyes. 

Janis reaches up with her right arm and pushes against Regina’s left shoulder, bringing her down to lay sort-of semi-kinda on top of Janis. Regina opens her mouth to protest before she makes it half-way down and Janis cuts her off succinctly rolling her eyes and shrugging with a: “It’s fine, Regina.”

Regina’s pretty sure Janis can’t see her blush. She lays down her head right above the place where Janis’ arm and shoulder meet. She’s not quite sure what to do with her left arm but she eventually rests it so her hand is right above Janis’ right shoulder. When she finally lets herself relax she realizes she actually is quite comfortable and she lets out a quiet sigh. 

“Good night, Joan of Arc.” Regina mumbles, grinning

“G’night, Princess Charming.” Janis rolls her eyes.


	3. Part 3

All through November Janis and Regina start actually becoming friends again. It’s hard, for a lot of reasons. Regina walks around on eggshells for the beginning and so does Janis. Janis afraid Regina will suddenly become the HBIC again and Regina afraid she’ll accidentally give herself away, or that she hasn’t quite changed enough, or that she’ll slip up and lose Janis forever (it’s hard for her to admit that that’s what she deserves). Janis snaps at her sometimes and it takes everything Regina has to not push back, but it’s worth it because when Regina meets her sincerely, Janis’ walls come down a little more. 

Damian is hesitant but a sucker for the way that Regina looks at Janis. “No one can make that kind of look up, Caddy. She’s not that good of an actress.”

Cady is also worried, but more for Regina, though she’d never admit it. She doesn’t know what’s going to come from this but she worries that it won’t be good. 

Karen is dying to meddle and get them together and they have to remind her almost every other day why it’s better for them to figure it out on their own. 

Aaron and Rock (who’s still around) just shake their heads in amusement. 

But it’s even harder because now that Regina isn’t terrorizing her and Janis has fully embraced the whole “I don’t care what people think” thing and that means… more people are paying attention and going for Janis and Regina has to just sit and watch them all. 

And beyond that, Regina’s jealousy borders on the irrational. 

One day she almost incinerates a kid when Janis gives him a hug. She finds out three hours later in math when Damian cackles out “Honey, that’s her cousin from Long Beach, he just moved here.” She’s a little mortified. 

•••

But some of her jealousy isn’t as irrational. 

Every day at lunch Cady, Aaron, Damian, Janis, Gretchen, Karen, and Regina sit together. And at least once a week at lunch, someone comes up to Janis and either flirts with her or just straight out asks her out. 

The days when Janis says no or brushes them off are good days. The days when they keep coming back for more and Regina and Damian’s hackles raise and they send the poor souls running are frustrating; keeping the jealous seething part of her at bay is hard, but having Janis roll her eyes and then sincerely thank her is nice. The days when Janis flirts back are bad days. But the worst part is, when the “suitor” leaves and Damian or Gretchen or Cady tease her about it, Janis seems completely clueless. 

“Link just wanted help with his English paper guys…”

“Brenda knows I really like that type of music, that’s why she invited me to the concert.”

“No… I’ve known Cody since we were six and yeah he’s kinda sleazy but our parents are friends so we have to be nice.”

“Paige wouldn’t flirt with me if I was the last person on the plant. She’s totally straight.”

On days where Janis is clueless everyone’s really glad that after lunch Regina, Gretchen, Cady, and Karen have gym while Damian and Janis have their art block/free period. Because on those days Regina seethes all through the period. She’s petty, she’s possessive. She’s jealous. She’s completely indignant. 

“You’re fucking telling me,” she says, pounding tennis ball after tennis ball across the court, “that Janis Fucking Sarkisian has no flipping idea that no less than fifteen fucking people have tried to ask her out in the last month?”

Karen’s trying not to giggle and Gretchen’s pretty close to laughing herself so Cady quickly makes Regina pay attention to her. She puts on her best nonchalant voice and says. 

“Why do you care Regina?”

The look the blonde sends her makes Cady remember why Regina had the entire school under her shoe less than a year ago. 

“Anyway, Janis is pretty clueless and she doesn’t do the whole ‘reading between the lines’ thing.”

“Yeah!” Karen pipes up, “unless you, like, spell it out for her in big shiny letters she’s not gonna get it.”

•••

There’s been plenty of parties since Halloween, but the one everyone’s looking forward to is Gretchen’s end of semester/Christmas/Chanukah party. It promises to be an amazing time. It’s Karen’s idea to make it an ugly sweater party and to everyone’s surprise, the one who seems the most excited about that is Regina. 

It comes out quite quickly that Regina is a huge fan of Christmas. Part of it is superficial, the lights and the gifts and all that jazz, but she also enjoys seeing her grandparents around the holidays, and she really likes snow (says it’s magic). Everyone’s surprised by this except Janis. When Damian asks, Janis tells them that in middle school Regina would always get hyped for Christmas long before Thanksgiving and she was a complete nut-head for the holiday. 

It’s surprising and it’s not. What everyone’s realizing as the year goes on is that they didn’t really know Regina. She hid so much of herself because she was afraid and while the things she did to keep herself hidden and protected were really bad sometimes, the real Regina behind all that is actually someone all of them are really glad to know. Janis especially. 

Janis paints a lot more now then she has in a while. The canvas with the circles and the face now has color in it. Dark blues and soft whites and warm golds, but the face… it haunts her. As an art piece it could be done, everyone keeps telling her how beautiful it is… but it doesn’t feel done, to Janis. 

•••

Regina comes to Gretchen’s house the day before the big party and her and Gretchen and Karen spend the entire day decorating the house. 

Janis got asked out by a sophomore on the last day of classes (that morning) and Regina’s doing her best to not freak out about that. She doesn’t want to let anything ruin her night or her friendship with Janis. So she shuts down that part of her heart. 

She’s glad she’s changed, wouldn’t go back for anything, but she curses herself that it’s infinitely harder to close herself off than it ever has been before. She still has the urge to literally smash that girl, but it’s faded down into a kind of sadness. Maybe this girl will make Janis happy, isn’t that what Regina wants. She’s become a big enough person to say yes it is, but she’s still Regina and she hasn’t quite gotten used to not getting what she wants. 

She tires herself out decorating with a frenzy. (Gretchen and Karen smile but say nothing when she spends an entire hour on the tire-swing). They pass out at like 9 pm, watching Bridget Jones’ Diary and drinking hot chocolate. It’s the best time Regina’s had in a really really long time. 

•••

Janis has been to more parties this year than she has in the rest of her life. She and Damian, though, have something else planned for this party. She’d spent quite a few weeks saving up for it but when she puts on her ugly-sweater suit she grins. She’d splattered it with some gold paint and put a giant gold-sequined Rudolph on the back and she absolutely loves it. She’d forgone the pants and just bought the blazer and tie, opting for her signature tights and a black skirt. Janis straightens her hair and feels like she’s killing it; she is. 

They show up to the party a little late because when Damian had seen Rock (in a pair of tight sweatpants with “ugly sweater” print on them and a candy cane tie (and literally no shirt even though it was probably 10 degrees outside) he’d told Janis that he “needed to use the bathroom” and she’d tried really hard not to think about what that actually meant while she sat in Damian’s dad’s car. 

As soon as they arrive, Gretchen greeting them at the door, Rock and Damian rocket off to do god-knows-what. Gretchen just chuckles and grabs Janis’ hand and leads her into the party. Gretchen’s in an ugly-sweater-dress with white wool thigh-highs and grey boots. Her dress is blue with a giant star of David on it and a bunch of tiny menorahs; Janis gives her a high-five. She drags Janis to Karen (who’s wearing something similar, but it’s yellow and got a gingerbread man and some candy canes on it) and the three stand around drinking holiday-themed drinks when Regina comes in. 

She’s flushed from the outdoors and giggling with Ryan (that hockey player). Janis is left agape when she sees Regina in jeans, a v-neck and an “ugly sweater” cardigan. To be fair it’s a pair of skin-tight, ripped, light wash jeans and a low-cut practically see-through white v-neck that shows off Regina’s boobs… excellently. But her maroon-based cardigan with reindeers and Christmas trees freaking lights up and Janis can’t quite pull it together. She’s in a daze when she’s tapped on the shoulder. 

(She doesn’t notice Regina seeing her for the first time. She doesn’t notice how hard Ryan laughs at her and how he has to literally snap in her face a few times for Regina to refocus enough to participate in their conversation again. Ryan grabs Regina a shot of something-or-other and she gladly downs it, still staring.)

Janis turns around and sees Alice. Alice is the sophomore who asked her out this morning. Janis had said she’d think about it, unsure and unsteady. Alice has strawberry-blonde hair and a million freckles and bright blue eyes and she’s wearing a dark blue sweater and it’s not even that ugly and she’s got on white jeans and she’s beautiful and Janis was kind of awestruck when she first saw her and Alice giggles now and says hi and Janis doesn’t know what’s happening to her but it’s not what’s supposed to be happening.

Alice just looks sort-of sad and says to Janis; “I get it, no worries.” Then she grins again (if a little less bright) “But you’re special, Janis Sarkisian, don’t forget that. Don’t let anyone make you forget that.” Alice glances over Janis’ shoulder and the taller girl’s eyebrows pull together. Janis spins around and makes eye contact with Regina whose faces softens into a grin. She forgets why she turned around.

Janis turns back to Alice. 

“Alice, you’re fucking kick-ass.”

 

Alice flips her hair; “I know.”

They both laugh, Alice leans in and kisses Janis on the cheek and then winks, wishes her good luck and walks away. 

Janis stands there for a moment, deciding what she wants to do now, and feels the sudden urge to find Regina. She looks around but when she finds Ryan, he’s alone. She looks around a little bit more but she doesn’t see Regina inside. Her brain tells her to let it go, but she finds herself walking outside anyway. 

When she gets to the tire swing she skids to a halt, awestruck. The place is gorgeous, twinkling fairy lights dangle from the tree and the tire swing is lit up with Christmas lights too. There are fake snowflakes hanging from the tallest branches and Janis wonders, absently, if Regina climbed the tree or used a ladder. There’s a family of snowmen nestled under the tree, two big ones and one small one and what looks like a snow-dog. There are four or five outdoor heaters surrounding the area. And sitting on the tire swing, halo-ed by the fairy lights is Regina. 

Janis has known Regina for almost ten years. Janis has been awestruck, and flabbergasted, and shocked by Regina’s beauty too many times to count, but Regina now - with rosy cheeks and a pink nose and the dusting of freckles she’s always had not hid by makeup and just sitting there, wrapping her cardigan (still lighting up) around her in the cold - well, Janis literally has the air sucked out of her lungs. 

It must make an audible noise because Regina turns around. She looks sad and Janis takes a few steps forward. 

“Enjoying the night?” Regina’s voice is high and tight like it hasn’t been in a while and Janis freaks a little, trying to figure out what went wrong.

“It’s beautiful out here,” Janis replies. 

Regina chuckles, stands, takes a step closer to Janis. 

“How’s Alice, she seems like a bitch?” Her voice is still foreign and Janis’ brow furrows. Regina hastens to wink. 

Janis looks deep in Regina’s eyes, trying to figure out what’s wrong, but she’s completely lost. Regina was a mystery when they were kids, she was untouchable until the summer, and now this new Regina who’s a confusing mix of her 12-year-old and 17-year-old personalities wrapped in this never before seen person, well she’s an enigma. 

“You’re breathtaking, tonight, Regina,” Janis replies without giving her mouth permission, still a little… breathless. She colors at her own words. Her eyes pop open wide and she shuffles back, leans against the tree a little harder. 

Regina flushes deeply, her neck and ears and cheeks coloring. She looks like she doesn’t believe it, but she also looks insanely happy. She takes another step forward. She’s very close to Janis now; a little more than an arm’s length away. She sways to a stop, puts both hands on her hips and quirks an eyebrow. If Janis was dumb she’d think Regina was flirting with her.

“I’m not the one who came here looking like that,” Regina says, gesturing up and down Janis’ body with her eyes. “Who knew…” she steps a little closer again, biting her lower lip and Janis can’t really think, in-fact she’s kinda short-circuiting. She’s just… she doesn’t know what’s happening and she doesn’t know what she wants it to be. 

Regina leans in - they’re so close that Janis feels her eyes start to flutter - when Karen’s voice comes ringing from around the corner. “Reeeeeegiiiiiiiiiina, people are getting tired and me and Gretchen need help setting up more places to sleep.”

Regina checks her watch and sees it’s nearly 4 am. She purses her lips and looks down and to the side. She’s framed by circles of warm-golden light and it’s just started to snow. And in an instant, everything clicks for Janis. She’s seen this exact image before. 

Regina looks crestfallen, but she turns to Janis, takes a deep breath and then leans forward. She wraps her arms around a very stiff Janis and hugs her for the first time in probably five years and then, she’s gone. 

Janis is left leaning against the tree in complete shock. It takes her a few moments to realize that there’s a handful of people staring at her from the place Regina had disappeared. 

To her shock and amazement there stand, Damian, Rock, Aaron, and Ryan? But that’s not even the startling part, what’s shaking her to her core is that Damian is holding a very familiar canvas. 

She pushes off the tree and walks to him in some sort of trance, feeling like she’s moving through water as she flips the canvas over and without permission, tears start slipping down her face as she looks at Regina George’s beautiful face in partial profile surrounded by yellow and white lights. It’s an abstract version of exactly what she just saw, and her breath is taken away. Her brain tells her that that’s getting annoying but she doesn’t even believe herself. 

“How…?”

“Oh, honey, we knew as soon as we saw it.” Damian sounds choked up himself. 

“But we all swore we weren’t going to meddle!” Pipes up Ryan from the back.

“We knew it wasn’t up to us to make you realize who that painting was about.” Rock murmurs. 

“We just wanted to be here and ready, when you realized.” Finishes Aaron. 

Janis looks into these guys’ eyes and she’s shocked. Being friends with Cady and Damian and Gretchen and Karen and even Regina seemed crazy but also almost inevitable. Having these guys care that much though… she’s flabbergasted again. She has the foreign and sudden urge to hug them all. 

Damian hands her the painting. She stares down at it. Regina looks gorgeous in this painting; she looks prettier in real life, and Janis’ heart swells. But when she thinks back to the moment from before, and she looks down at the painting she kinda freaks. 

She looks up from the painting at the five guys, and then she looks Damian directly in the eyes. “I’m… I’m not ready.”

Damian looks at her, his eyes full of hesitation and a touch of doubt. Damian knows her better than anyone, better than she even knows herself, but he also cares about her more than anyone so he nods and responds with the truth. 

“You don’t have to be.”

•••

In the end, Damian hunts down Gretchen. When Janis shows Gretchen the canvas Gretchen bursts into tears, and Janis freaks out until she realizes that they’re happy tears. Gretchen envelops her in a hug and Janis chuckles at her life.   
Gretchen leads her up the stairs and has Janis put the painting in the spare bedroom right next to her, tells her it’ll be there whenever she’s ready; tells her she won’t tell Regina anything. Six months ago Janis wouldn’t have believed her but now she wholeheartedly does. 

•••  
The next week, Karen leads the six guests to the kitchen where Gretchen and Regina lay out all the stuff for gingerbread men. Karen makes her’s unicorn shaped and they have a competition to see who can make the best gingerbread man. Janis wins by a landslide but Aaron doesn’t do a half-bad job either. Cady’s is absolutely terrible, a gloppy mess. 

Damian gets a little distracted when Rock and Ryan start arm-wrestling but when he looks over at Janis and Regina a moment later, Regina’s watching the competition (now Ryan and Karen) when Janis leans over and eats a bite of the gingerbread cookie in Regina’s hand. Regina looks affronted and slaps her lightly on the shoulder. Janis grins up at her winningly and Damian watches as Regina melts just a little, giggling. Janis leans into her and winks, refocusing on the competition. 

Damian catches her eye and raises an eyebrow and Janis gulps. 

They spend the day that way, sharing the occasional look across the crowd. Everyone else is acutely aware of the tension in the room, but also smart enough to not draw attention to it or point it out, instead... everyone just pretends that the world hasn’t been tilted slightly of its axis. Regina can’t stop thinking about their almost-kiss. Janis can’t stop thinking about the painting in Gretchen’s spare bedroom. 

A few hours later Janis exits Gretchen’s spare bedroom (where she changed and stared at the painting until she snapped out of it and realized she was tearing up a little) at the same time Regina exits the bathroom. 

Regina is in dark red joggers, dark green socks that say “mistletoes” on them and she’s wearing a huge oversized white knitted Christmas sweater with a bunch of gold snowflakes. She looks incredibly casual and adorable and Janis is taken aback again. Regina grins at Janis and winks before she turns around and heads down the stairs. Janis almost chokes when she sees the word ‘naughty’ scrawled across the back of Regina’s pants, right across the ass. 

When Janis makes it to the basement no-one else but Regina is down there, all still collecting stuff from the kitchen. She’d brought down the tumblers of hot chocolate and the bags of mini marshmallows. Regina’s already on the couch and she evidently brought down a bunch of the booze, as it’s already set up on the table. 

“Hey, Jan?”

Janis hums in response as she sets down her stuff, but her heartbeat triples. 

“Could you get me some of the eggnog?” 

Janis wrinkles her nose, she hates eggnog (or she did the last time she drank it when she was fourteen) but grabs a glass and pours some for Regina. When she turns around and starts heading back to the couch everyone else comes tumbling down the stairs. 

Aaron and Rock are carrying a huge tray of cookies and as they go to put them on the coffee table they bump into Janis, shouting apologies while they try not to drop the cookies. Janis falls forward a bit and Regina, laughing, catches her by the waist and settles her. Janis stares wild-eyed, at Regina until Regina’s laughter fades and Janis’ stare calms and they’re just staring at each other. 

Distantly, Janis hears Ryan and Karen whoop and shakes herself out of her daze. While she and Regina were having some sort of… moment, it seems everyone has claimed a seat and they’ve decided what movie they’re going to watch first. It’s Die Hard and over Damian’s protests that Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie, Aaron puts the disc in. 

Janis realizes that there’s not really much space left. Aaron and Cady are on the far end of the sectional, cuddled up. Damian and Rock are on the floor to the right of the coffee table, Ryan to the left. Gretchen and Karen are in the middle of the sectional. Janis stiffens and prepares to squish herself behind Ryan when she hears Regina chuckle. She turns to face the blonde and sees her scoot closer into the cushions and pat the space next to her. Janis looks into Regina’s grinning eyes and smiles back, sitting down next to the blonde. 

It takes approximately an hour and twenty-five minutes for them to be full out cuddling. Damian has never witnessed two more stubborn people in his life. Regina smells like eggnog and Janis decides she doesn’t hate the beverage after all. 

•••

They watch Home Alone and Elf and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (which Regina admits is her favorite) and The Santa Clause and then they start Love, Actually. 

Love, Actually as it turns out is actually a really long movie. They start it at 1:50 and by 3:30 it’s not even half over and almost everyone is asleep. The movie’s nearing its end and Regina looks over at Janis and sees her tearing up. Janis sense Regina’s staring at her and flushes, turning towards the blonde. Regina’s jaw is practically on the floor. Regina leans into her and whispers “are you really crying over this movie?” 

“Yes, and I you tell a single living soul I’ll scalp you.”

Regina just laughs. Janis looks at her, smiles and buries her head deeper into the crook between Regina’s neck and shoulder. Regina tightens her hold around Janis. Janis wakes up the next morning and fully freaks out.


	4. Part 4 + Epilogue

Regina spends the rest of winter break in Aspen with her family. Janis spends the first day back completely ignoring Regina and when the rest of the gang realizes what happens they all go into damage-control mode because Regina looks about half a second from either going full Burn-Book or just dissolving into a puddle of tears. 

Karen, Gretchen, Ryan, and Cady all fail to calm her so Damian grabs the blonde by the wrist and pulls her into an empty classroom. 

“Ok, here’s the thing. Janis is figuring out some of her shit right now. She isn’t ignoring you because she like hates you or because she knows you like her.”

Regina’s mouth hangs open. 

“Oh shut up honey, you’re more obvious than the way they do that jazzy little quick change in Book of Mormon.”

Regina snorts and rolls her eyes. “She has no idea?”

“Oh, babe, you couldn’t have picked a more clueless target if you tried.”

Three days later, Karen, Gretchen, Caddy and Damian walk into Regina’s bedroom to hear her speaking on the phone trying to buy an advertising space on one of the screens at the mall that says “Janis, go out with me -R.” When everyone stares at her, flabbergasted she just says   
“Well, you said big shiny letters…”

•••

Janis starts staring at this girl from the grade below them. She’s gorgeous and leggy with the longest brown hair. Janis seems smitten with her for like two weeks and then suddenly it’s over, but at the height of her obsession, Regina decides she’s dying her hair brown. She calls Karen late one night in a frenzy. 

“Regina! What’s up!?”

“Karen, I’m dying my hair brown and I need your help to decide which shade.”

Damian’s at Karen’s house, currently braiding her hair and he grabs the phone. “Slow the fuck down honey, not with your skin tone.”

They convince her to stay blonde

•••

They go through about five different huge plans that Regina’s decided will work, will get Janis to realize she likes her. Aaron sits her down and changes her perspective. 

“Regina, you can’t force her to like you with grand gestures and shelling out a lot of cash.”

So Regina refocuses her efforts. She spends more time with Janis. She sits next to her at lunch, drives her home, asks her to read over her English essay. 

In the end, they spend more time together in the next two months than they have since middle school. The gang waits patiently for Janis to figure out what she wants. They wait for Regina to finally tear down all the walls around Janis’ heart. 

But Regina’s kind-of dying because the way Janis looks at her… she can’t be making it up, can she!?

She asks Cady and Gretchen and Karen one day. The three girls look at her sadly and then they finally crack. 

It’s Gretchen who speaks, “Honey, you can’t force her to be ready either.”

Regina answers without hostility, “I know, but what if it’s just that she doesn’t realize how much I like her.”

 

The girls concede her point and suddenly she’s back to planning huge declarations. 

Then the next day at school some girl named Carey asks Janis out and Janis says yes. 

The date goes terribly and Janis cries to Damian that she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Cries and tells him what she’s finally ready to admit. That she really really likes Regina and that that’s so dumb. Damian sits her up, wipes her tears and tells her that maybe a year ago liking Regina would have been the worst decision, maybe even four months ago liking Regina would have been the worst decision, but he points at the picture strip from a photo booth that Regina had dragged the two of them into after seeing some movie at the beginning of February and asks her if falling for the girl in the picture is that dumb of an idea. 

Damian thinks that queer women are far too much for him to handle when Janis dissolves into tears that Regina’s not even interested and she’s wasting her time. 

•••

It’s Aaron though that patches it all together, and honestly, no one’s shocked. Janis is in the studio for lunch that day and so it’s everyone else at the table, debating over Regina’s last plan (which Regina herself doesn’t feel so into anymore) to hire a skywriter. 

Aaron looks at her, exasperated. “Regina, this is Janis we’re talking about.”

Regina looks like she might literally murder him. “Yes, and she deserves everything so if it’s a good idea, I’ll buy a fucking skywriter…”

He rolls his eyes (which takes everyone by surprise as they sit silently and stare at the interaction before them). “Firstly, what? A skywriter I… honestly?” Regina pinks at this. “And secondly, no. Think about what Janis would want.”

This shuts Regina up for a while. 

•••

Gretchen throws a party as soon as it starts getting warm. It’s a random day at the beginning of March but that happens sometimes in the midwest, random warm patches in the middle of two snowstorms. 

It’s like 65 degrees and everyone’s happy to party outside in their lightweight jackets and flannels in Janis’ case. It’s about 10 when Janis and Damian and Rock arrive. They’re shocked to realize that Regina isn’t there yet but twenty minutes later she enters the party and Damian laughs for a solid minute at the look on Janis’ face. 

Regina is in insanely tight dark wash skinny jeans and she’s wearing that white v-neck and a soft pink bomber jacket. Her hair is loosely curled and her eyes are bluer than the sky. 

Regina grins at Janis and winks before she turns around and heads upstairs. Janis almost chokes at the way she ascends the stairs. 

A few hours later they’re both on the dance floor and Damian and Rock ‘accidentally’ negotiate the crowd slowly over the course of three songs until they’re dancing next to each other and then together and Regina grins at her and Janis realizes she’s over all the fear. She looks right into Regina’s eyes and Regina kind of stumbles. 

Twenty minutes later and they both take a break from dancing. She goes over to Ryan and tells him that once Janis goes outside to the tire swing to try and find her if he could make sure no one goes over there and he grins handsomely and agrees. Regina slips outside and around the corner from the tire swing. It takes less than fifteen minutes for Janis to realize that Regina’s gone, fail to find her inside, and head out to the tire swing. And when she gets there… she’s kind of flabbergasted. 

There are a million and a half lights in the tree and around it. It’s warm and bright and looks like something out of a movie. There are flower petals all around the ground, but it’s also so simple and soft. Janis is kind of a hipster, she likes to pretend she’s above the cheesy and the romantic but when she completes the full circle it takes for her to take in her surroundings and sees Regina standing behind her, framed by the lights and with the softest smile on her face; Janis melts (and she’s not even that ashamed to admit it)

They both start talking at the same time. 

And then Janis bolts. 

Regina’s left standing there, flabbergasted. She had thought, in the back of her mind that this could have happened, but she didn’t really think it would. She hadn’t even gotten to do her big speech thing. Was it fear that drove Janis away or was she really not into Regina. Regina’s lost in her thoughts, a few stray tears escaping when she hears someone clear their throat behind her. 

She’s not sure what she’s expecting, but she’s not expecting to see Janis, tears in her eyes, holding a canvas that depicts an abstract but gorgeous version of Regina’s own face, framed by fairy lights and snowflakes. 

It startles Regina to her core. She drags her eyes away from the painting, mouth hanging open, to look in Janis’ eyes. Janis starts rambling immediately. It’s some blathering speech about how she’d worked on the painting for six months before she’d realized what it was and then she’d hid it in Gretchen’s spare room for the last three because she just couldn’t face it; wasn’t ready to open her heart up that much. 

Regina interrupts her, quickly standing from her place on the tire swing. “Janis, does this mean what I think it means?”

“Regina, it took me a long time to forgive you, but I have. And it’s taken longer to open up to you, but I have. And it’s taken even longer to admit what I was feeling for you, but I have. I don’t know how long it will take for me to fall in love with you, but I know I am. ”

Regina wants to surge forward. Regina has been aching to just grab her and kiss her for months now. Regina wants to grab her and push her against the tree and claim her, but instead, she looks deep into Janis’ eyes. 

She’s not 100% sure what she’s looking for, but she knows that this can only happen if Janis truly forgives her and is being truthful. Regina gave a piece her heart to Janis a long time ago (without wanting to). If she’s going to willingly hand over the rest she wants to make sure that that’s the best for everyone involved. 

What she sees when she looks into Janis’ eyes is nothing but hope. Regina recognizes what Janis looks like with hope in her eyes. It’s been a long while since Regina’s seen it directed her way. The last time she’d let Janis down, that wouldn’t happen again. Regina’s been aching for another chance with Janis for months, she’ll be damned if she waits any longer. 

When Regina pushes her against the tree and kisses the living hell out of her, Janis can’t help but feel like maybe just maybe if this is a mistake, that it’s the best worst mistake she’s ever made. The kiss is soft and sweet and simple, everything Janis thought it could never be. It doesn’t feel like fireworks or any of those other things, it feels contented, it feels, Janis thinks as she pulls Regina closer by the collar of her jacket and deepens the kiss, like curling up in the warmth and safety of one’s bed. It feels Regina thinks as she sinks farther into Janis, heart soaring, like coming home.

•••

Seven years later and Regina hasn’t been this nervous in… probably her whole life. She got off the plane two days before and this is the first real thing she’s done since; she couldn’t chicken out any longer. She’d thought about doing it when she’d first got there but it had taken two days at her mom’s house, amping herself up to get her there. She was ready. So, her mom drops her off, wishes her luck and Regina slowly and carefully marches up the steps to Janis’ childhood front door and rings the bell. 

Janis’ dad opens the door and Regina feels her knees go weak. It hasn’t been that long since she’s seen Mr. Sarkisian, probably four months, but she knows that both of Janis’ parents know about everything and have been - understandably - hesitant. 

When Mr. Sarkisian opens the door he stares at her for a minute before stepping onto the landing and closing the door behind him, leaving the two of them alone on the top step. Regina feels the urge to back up and go down a step, but she tries her best not to waver. 

“Regina…” Mr. Sarkisian says, face completely unreadable- and then he smiles a little around his eyes. “I have to say, I was hoping you’d have stopped by for a visit like this a long time ago.” Regina opens her mouth but her throat is tight and she doesn’t think she’ll be able to say anything. “I’m glad you’re here now, but,” he says, stepping closer; his voice lowering to a deep whisper, “My stance hasn’t changed… if you’re going to hurt her again, you’d better turn around now.”

Regina swallows. Mr. Sarkisian has always made her nervous but she’s grown out of pretending that no one makes her uncomfortable while also gaining back some of the hard-won confidence she’d lost after that long ago bus accident. So instead of deflating or deflecting she owns her vulnerability. 

When she speaks she actively lets her feelings bleed into her words and while she steadies herself and lifts her chin, she does it with shaking hands. She decides the best answer to his unspoken question is:

“Is Frankie in? I’d like to speak with you both.”

Thomas Sarkisian looks at her for a long time. Regina flashes back to the last time she did this and once again she thinks he must be looking for something that would make him believe her. Apparently, he finds something good enough becomes he slowly starts to grin, reaches behind him to open the door to the house, and calls through into the house; “Frankie, could you come here please, Regina’s at the door.”

•••

Frankie berates Thomas for keeping them on the porch and two hours later Regina dries her cheeks (tear stained from laughter and pure emotion) and grins at the couple who’s given her their blessing, showing off the ring she’s picked out to Janis’ mom and sharing a meaningful look with her father.


End file.
